Monday, November 28, 2011

Where you feel like if you spend one more second inside with your children you might combust.

Jason worked late tonight. The second he walked in the door, I made a lame excuse to run to the store.

I needed "groceries".

Mommy really needed a break.

So I went to Crest. Scoured the store for the necessities. As I was headed to pick up milk, Jason called. I answered. And he asked me if I was okay. I said yes, but I just needed to get out of the house for a little bit. He said that he completely understood and that I could take all the time that I needed. He had it all under control.

I stood in front of the milk section and tears came to my eyes. That was quite possibly one of the nicest things he could have said to me. Something I needed to hear. After a few seconds of realizing that I probably shouldn't be wiping away tears in the store (at least my own) I meandered.

And I meandered right on over to the nut section. I felt a little more at home there.

And I found these babies.

I figured if I couldn't drown out my day with one of my favorite vices--chocolate covered almonds of any kind--I would drown my tough day with the next best, nutritionally more responsible thing.

After I checked out, I headed to my car, dug the almonds out of my purse, sat in the driver seat, opened the lid and enjoyed the cocoa roast almonds.

I've been praying to God to help me find more balance in my life. To not be so busy. To slow down and really enjoy life with my ever-growing children. I miss blogging. I miss really documenting their lives. But I decided to really hold off with the blog until I felt true inspiration. Never thought I would find it in a canister of nuts.

I thought that things would get easier as the girls got older...and in many ways that is right, but in many ways I was oh, so wrong. I mean, they have opinions and big personalities and lives that need true shaping.

I don't want to miss out on any of that.

So as I sat there eating my delicious almonds, I decided to head on back home.

Not because I really, really wanted to, but because I had to.

I had chocolate ice cream in the back seat and I didn't want it to melt.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

And really it's not about football. It's about earthquakes. And the earthquake we had last night. 5.6 and I felt it. I was dead asleep when I was woken up by rumbling. I ran through the house and found Jason. He hugged me and I said,

"That's the first one I've ever felt!!!!!"

I was a little excited.

I forgot about the earthquake until I checked facebook this morning. It made me want to ask, "Was there an earthquake last night? I'm not sure. No one posted about it."

One of my friends had this on their page.

A video of Kirk Herbstreit in an interview during the earthquake.

Now I'm not a huge football fan, but a Kirk Herbstreit fan.

Yes. Yes. and Yes.

Here's the video. (It happens in the first few seconds. Stick through all the football talk to hear his comment at the end. It's really funny.)

And for an even better and more hilarious shot. A still of Herb's quake face.

I guess if you're ever going to get me to mention football on my blog it will have to include two things.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Last year, Halloween was simple. The girls were animals. We walked around our street one time (mainly to take pictures), went to a party and then went home and put the grumpy little animals to bed.

And I think they were asleep by 7:00 PM.

This year, however, it was Halloween full force. Nothing is more exhausting than the number of times we wore our costumes the week before Halloween...to school, to Story Book Forest (except that it was rained out and we never made it), to the Y...and by the time actual Halloween rolled around, the costumes were a bit of a mess. So the majority of the pictures I will post are from their first time wearing their costumes to school.

And yes, they were both Cinderella. It was just easier that way. And that was what they both wanted to be.

(I miss the fuzzy animal costumes. And the 7 PM bedtime).

Here's Cinderella.

And Cinderella.

And Cinderella.

And five seconds later. Crazy-haird Cinderella. And her sister who is trying to escape out the front door.

It's amazing how quickly the wheels can come off with these two.

Their costumes survived school, but they did not survive the next trip. As we were getting ready to go to the Story Book Forest that never was, Stella jumped off of Chloe's bed and broke her crown. Not her head. But her princess crown. There was no way to repair and when I went back to the store to look for a replacement, they were all gone. So I had to buy a monstrosity of a crown. And Chloe, being the sweet girl that she is, decided to wear it because she thought it looked so awesome. I didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.

Here it is. A couple of girls with a couple of funny head pieces. But by the end of trick-or-treating, Chloe somehow ended up wearing Stella's crown and the big crown was nowhere to be found.

Mysterious.

The girls had a blast trick-or-treating.

Here they are at our Aunt Nancye's house.

And Stella pretty much looked like this the entire time. Not because she didn't want to trick-or-treat, but because she learned that people have dogs in their houses. And nothing scares her more than a dog.

Not even that scary skeleton, or a guy dressed up as a zombie that jumped out at us or spooks or ghosts or goblins could scare this girl.

Just dogs.

All in all, we had a great night. The girls had a blast. But I don't think that anyone had as much fun as Jason and me. There's nothing like watching your kids experience all the great things that childhood has to offer.

Friday, November 4, 2011

This is how Chloe looks after I take a shower. Let me repeat. When I take a shower. Completely and utterly soaked to the bone.

I dread taking a shower while they're awake, which is why I try to squeeze one in before they wake up or during naps. But if I have to take a shower while they're awake (and let's just be thankful that I'm showering everyday) it becomes this huge ordeal.

I try to distract them with toys or snacks or Bubble Guppies, but the second they hear the water start running and the shower curtain close, I can hear the pitter patter of little feet.

Then I hear, "Oh no! Mommy! Nooooo!"

And the shower curtain is ripped open.

And it is freezing and I start feeling a little exposed.

And when I think they're distracted, I slowly creep the shower curtain back closed, only to hear those feet running towards me again with Chloe screaming in the most terrified voice,

"NO MOMMY! Oh no! Not again!!! Not again!!!!!!!!"

Drama.

And the shower curtain gets ripped open again.

And she gets soaked.

And I'm freezing.

I mean, showers shouldn't be this dramatic. As far as I know, they've never seen me go into the shower and not come back out. I don't think they know about the secret passageway in our shower that leads to a faraway land. I mean, seriously. Girl needs to get a grip.